March 9, 2019

Most people have no idea who Lady Randy was. Yet, Jennie Jerome, the mother of Winston Churchill, was the proverbial female force to be reckoned with in her own right. She was a woman who was at once so ahead of her time and yet very much a product of her era.

The world premiere of “Lady Randy” by Anne Undeland takes the Shakespeare & Company Bernstein Theatre stage this spring. The play kicks-off the first production of WAM’s 10th Anniversary. The play was first developed by Undeland and director Jim Frangione at the Berkshire Playwrights’ Lab, making this a true collaboration of outstanding regional talent.

“Lady Randy” began its life at Berkshire Playwrights Lab (BPL) and has been in development by WAM staff for the past year and a half. BPL’s mission is to give playwrights a safe and supportive environment.

Undeland will play the title role, with WAM newcomer Mark Zeisler portraying the roles of Winston Churchill and nine other smaller roles. Undeland is well known to local audiences for her one-woman shows at Ventfort Hall, and performances at Mixed Company in Great Barrington and Oldcastle Theatre in Bennington, VT. Zeisler has extensive credits on Broadway and in regional theatres across the country. In the Berkshires, he has performed for the last two seasons with Shakespeare & Company.

In 1875, the American heiress, Jennie Jerome, seemed to have have it all. She had married an English lord; she was young, rich, and beautiful; and she had just given birth to Winston Churchill. “Lady Randy” takes the audience on a dizzying ride through the treacherous, kaleidoscopic sexual and political landscape of her marriage. A woman ahead of her time, Jennie kept everyone watching, kept them guessing, and she never, ever surrendered.

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